Thanks guys. Geo, I'll be fine with references but thanks anyway.
On we go. I mentioned the very large sprue gates earlier. Here's the one attaching the fuselage at the tail fillet.
This one is at the nose. The other side has been dealt with already.
Notwithstanding that one small criticism, I'm quite impressed with the quality of this little kit. The pic below shows the wings being assembled and was intended to show the subtle panel lines but I was using a different camera for this shot while my other battery was charging so it's not easily seen. I'll show the details a bit later. After drilling the holes required for the center and inner wing pylons, the wings have been glued together and set aside.
Here's the fuselage half before assembly. The engine is represented in parts on both the intake and exhaust side with turbines visible deep in both.
Here's the intake side with the turbine painted grey and the intake duct white before attaching the rest of the duct. I didn't take a pic of the exhaust as it's tiny and you need a flashlight to see inside.
The cockpit panel decals are OK and will pass for this build. I'll keep the canopy closed anyway. Note that the bottom seat cushion had been painted prior to insertion into the seat but the fit was so tight that I scratched the paint trying to force the part in place. Needless to say, there's no glue holding it there.
Belts were made of Tamiya tape that was painted olive and stuck in place. The buckles were picked out with silver on a very fine brush.
With that done, the fuselage halves were glued together and clamped. The fit is excellent and what appears here as a step in the seam is actually the melted plastic oozing form the joint - a good sign for achieving a smooth seam.
Thanks for looking in guys. More to come soon.